Strength of Another Sort
by lauraconsa
Summary: Randomness. The idea came from watching my friends singing karaoke. He lost someone dear many years ago, now another one came with determination to heal his heart. Will he let her be so near or will he push her away? ByakuyaxOC
1. Chapter 1

Tori: Why the hell are you writing a fanfic?

LC: I can't?

Tori: No…I mean, why are you writing one about me?!?!

LC: Because.

Tori: God! I can't talk sense into you!!

LC: I'm glad. Ryu, can you do the disclaimer? I want some sugar.

Ryu: Yeah, sure. Leave the job to me.

Lauraconsa does not own Bleach, Tori, Ryu, and its characters. The only one that belongs to her is her yami, Tsuki.

(To Tsuki) How's that?

LC: (Sugar high. Not paying attention)

Ryu: Oh, well. Enjoy. R&R please!

Chapter 1

"Tori Marari reporting, sir," She stood straight at the inspection of the man standing before her. Her palm sweated against the hilt of the zanbato she's clutching.

Finally his gaze lost its intensity, allowing ths piritual pressure to lessen around him. His face softened, and something like a smile flitted across his face. "Welcome to the Sixth Company, Assistant Captain Tori."

o.o

"Tori! Stop daydreaming!"

The said person was currently out her captain's office and was sitting at the door to the practice fields. The one who was trying to gain Tori's attention is Ryu. They were best friends since they knew each other and nobody knows Tori's loss of awareness to her surroundings better than Ryu.

"Urg! Tsuki, help me with this!" She turned exasperatedly to the one sitting beside Tori.

Tsuki, the 'outsider' as some of them called her, came from outside of the Seireitei. There they loathed her for being able to use 'magic'. Of course, that was discovered one day and she was brought to the Shinigami Academy. Naturally quiet and shy, she didn't speak at all from the teasing of others until Ryu and Tori got it to stop.

She smiled at Ryu and flipped another page in her book, "You're doing a better job at this than me, in any case."

"Fine!" Ryu turned her attention back to Tori. "Oy! Tori, you can't fall asleep here!" Ryu pinched Tori's cheeks. "Wake. Up!"

"Alright!" She swatted the tall, lanky girl's girl. "Geez. I'm not even asleep."

"But you're acting like it." Tsuki closed her book with a snap and smiled. "Ohaiyo. Tori-san."

"Ohaiyo." Tori grinned at the black-haired girl before frowning. "You can drop the politeness, you know." The pair had been trying to get Tsuki to forget the honorifics since they've known her, but it's not making too much of a difference.

Tsuki bowed without thinking, causing the frown on Tori's and Ryu's face to deepen. She smiled sheepishly, standing up. "I can't help it. You're older than me; I feel like I have too."

"No, you don't," Ryu put an arm around her shoulder and walked toward the gate. You're both assistant captains, so there's no problem since you have the same position. But-" She signed theatrically, "I guess you'll have to keep calling me Ryu-san."

"You," Tori jabbed a finger at the dark-skin girl, "need to stop rubbing it in, Ryu-teichou of the Twelfth Company."

"It's not my fault that creepy mask wearing guy resigned!"

"Well, you don't have to rub it in!"

"Guys!" Tsuki raised her hands up. "You're too loud!"

Then the two noticed that the people in the practice field were staring at them.

"Gomen nasai," Tsuki smiled apologetically and pushed the two to the other practice field. When they were on the other side, Tsuki asked, "Well, you got the job you want, right? You wanted to work with Byakuya-teichou the first day you saw him."

"Yeah," Ryu signed, "And dreaming worse back then."

"Well," Tsuki continued, "You can't blame Tori for that. Besides, I heard that you've been getting a lot of tips from Uruhara-san lately."

"You don't say…" Tori grinned slyly, bending down to talk in a whisper to the stretching Tsuki, "I bet that there's more than just information passing around…"

"Drop it, you!" A rock flew in her direction

Tori dodged the flying rock with ease. "It's not my fault. Tsuki brought it up." She gestured at Ryu to come closer. "Besides, I'm not the only one with a captain she admires."

"Leave Ukitake-teichou alone." Tsuki countered, stretching without a glance at them, "He didn't do anything to you. Besides, you love Byakuya-teichou, I just like Ukitake-teichou."

"That's our Tsuki," Ryu grinned, exchanging a glance with Tori, "Keeping everything to herself."

Without warning, the two jumped at Tsuki, tackling her in a blur of black and white. Ignoring her protest, Tori grinned, "Come on! Tell us. It's not like we'll tell anybody."

"Nothing!" The sound that came out was muffled, "Honestly!"

"No fun," Ryu said, grouchy, but with a grin tugging at her face. They jumped off of her, giving her space to breath.

Tori started stretching too. "Now let's practice. I don't want to be caught with me 'playing' with two brats."

"Watch it, Tori!" Ryu replied, indignant. "Even though I'm younger than you, I'm still a captain."

"Well," Tori smirked, "Prove it."

She pulled her zanbato out. "With pleasure."

o.o


	2. Chapter 2

LC: HA! (Point finger at Tori) See? People reviewed!!

Tori: Still…

Ryu: Just say it. It's not that bad.

T: …

R: …Never mind.

LC: Tori! Say the disclaimer so we can move on!

Tori: (sign) Whatever.

Lauraconsa does not own Bleach characters or plot line. If she did, then Byakuya would have to be considered as an ugly git. And that's never going to happen.

Chapter 2

Tori signed, patrolling the district she's assigned to. It's been five months since she worked with Byakuya and she made no headways as to how the man thinks. He's kind, strong, and courageous, but never allowed anyone to go near him.

Flashback

A battle ground, bloody and body strewn. Several Hollows, gathered suddenly and attacked one city. Byakuya, Tori, and several others were dispatched to take care of the business. Everything should be fine, right?

Dead wrong. Almost literally, too. They just finished with the smaller Hollows and were about to deal with the others when three Menos Grande decided to show up. At their call, every Hollow from the surrounding cities came until the place was swamped in them. All of the Gotei 13 was called in to help.

Byakuya's _Senbonzakura_ and his bankai, _Senbonzakura Kageyoshi_, was more than a match for the Hollows. But as fortune (or misfortunes) would have it, a Hollow who was on the verge of death managed to slash his arm.

"Byakuya-taichou!" Tori nearly cried when she saw the wound. Never had it cross her mind that he would be injured. When he didn't answer, she ran to him. "Byakuya-taichou! You're hurt! Let me treat yo-"

"No." He cut her off with a wave from his goos hand. His face and voice was calm despite the pain the wound must be causing him. "Go with the other fukutaichos and treat the critically injured ones."

"But Byaku-"

His next words came out in a hiss. "Don't touch me." The hand that reached for his arm and the body attached to it froze to immobility as the icy blue orbs pierced her soul. The spiritual pressure that suddenly enveloped her left just as quickly, making her stumbles backwards By the time she caught herself, her captain already was several feet away.

"You have your orders." His voice retained the icy coldness. "Now obey them."

She was about to argue when the tone that ends all conversations reached her. Swallowing the words that's biting her tongue, she bowed to the figure and said, "Yes, sir."

Eve though she used _shunpo_ to shorten the time she has to dwell on the conversation, one thing still managed to jump into the front of her mind. When he warned her, the words were full of anger, frustration, coldness,, and a little bit of annoyance. Nothing out of ordinary.

So why, when she replay the words in her memory, makes her think of an emotion that's totally unrelated to Byakuya?

What in the world did he _fear_?

End Flashback

Tori signed, sitting back down. She still cannot connet the two things together. Fear and Byakuya just don't belong in the same sentence. It's as unordina-

"Stop saying your thoughts out loud or people will think you're crazy."

She stood up, indignant, and nursed the injury on her head. "God, Ryu! Couldn't you stop being so annoying for one second?!"

"Nah," The brown eyes twinkles as she flashed a grin in Tori's direction, "It's one of the perks that came with this job. Just as yours came with the advantage of being able to ogle at Byakuya everyday, mine -"

"Please! Could you not talke about nii-sama like that? It makes me feel sick."

"Rukia!" Tori greeted the short-stature girl with a spike of hair flopped down her face, "What brought you here?"

"This," She pointed to the huge tomb on her back, "Since when do captain delivers stuff?"

"Since you have a book freak like Tsuki." Ryu chuckled. "It's really unlucky that you became the captain for Gin's company. There's a lot of mistrust going on." She examined the package. "This looks more comfy on a dark shelf with a lot of dust and cobwebs covering it, though."

"Good," Rukia waved her arm in exasperation, "Now go tell him that!"

"Him?" the two chorused.

"Yeah! Urahara has to send that 'little' list of books that's not in the soul Society to her." AS she continued to rant about his stupidity, the pair realized that it was him she's mad at, not Tsuki.

Alight bulb went on in Ryu's head. "Listen, Rukia," she shook her shoulders to get her attention. "I'll go talk to him, ok? Maybe I can get some sense into him." Her eyes were alight with an almost maniacal glint, she rushed off.

Tori chuckled at the reaction in Ryu, causing Rukia to stare at her in confusion. "Trust me," she told the girl, "that message will probably be more 'I miss you, Urahara!' than 'Stop giving Tsuki books, you dumb idiot!'"

Rukia giggled. "Yeah. That's true. But that's -" she pointed to the book "not my only reason for coming here. Since I'm not around nii-sama as much and you do, do you know why he's so…depressed lately?"

"Him? Depressed?" Her eyebrows raised high in disbelief.

"Yeah, I know," She rolled her eyes. "Doesn't belong in the same sentence. It's hard for people to tell if he's experiencing _any_ emotions when he's always so calm. But I know him better than anyone else. Something's got to have happened to cause that." Rukia suddenly became quiet as a thought struck her. "Come to think of it, it came after his arm was injured…"

Tori mentally grimaced. Now she knows _exactly_ what's making him depressed.

"Look." She said quickly, "Maybe it's because of all that happened in Soul Society. Everyone's a little edgy."

"Hey, I know!" Rukia suddenly got an idea. "Since tomorrow is Christmas, let's get him a Christmas present!"

"Kirisutemasu what?"

2 hours and 15 minutes later

"Okay," Tori stopped Rukia and tried to sort the information out. "So you're telling me that this holiday called 'Christmas' is about a fat, red-faced man with a red get-up and drives a sleigh with, not horses, but flying deer, and he goes to people's chimneys and drop presents in people's homes." (A/N: sorry Santa…)

"Uh-huh."

"Who invented this crazy holiday anyway?!"

"I'm sure there's more to it than that!" Rukia added hastily, (A/N: Too right it does) "Anyway, my point is that we can give him a present on that day to cheer him up!"

"Good idea!" Tori nodded, "Let's go talk to the Central 46th Chamber about it!" Excited, she ran off with Rukia on her heels.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

LC: See? That's not too bad.

R: And it's all about you. Happy now?

T: Sort of.

LC: 'throws hands in the air' I give up. 'Slams door and left'

R: Ah, well. R&R please!

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_Thank you for the review!_


	3. Chapter 3

LC: Sumimasen! I should have updated earlier!

Tori: We really shouldn't have told her about how fun video games are.

Ryu: (nod) Now all she did this week was read about the commands to KH and ogling at Kadaj's Souba Double Blade Kanata.

Tori: Ah well.

Lauraconsa will never be able to own the real Kadaj's sword until very much later in life (or death), and that goes for Bleach as well.

Chapter 3

If you should happen to wake up very, very early in the morning and just so happen that you live by the Central 46th Chamber and take an oh-so-very-lucky glance out at a window that just happens to be facing the said building, you would have saw two shinigami walking boldly out of the building with a huge smirk on one of their faces.

The one ahead, walking with a little bounce in her step, was Tori. "It's done! We have a holiday today!"

Rukia, although she did accompany her to the place, didn't go in to see what went on. "How did you persuade them?"

"By telling them that this will promote good will and unity within the Soul Society and it will allow us to know the other companies better thus enabling us to work together more efficiently."

She smiled widely at Rukia when a hell butterfly landed on her shoulder.

"Lying like a rug, you are."

"Hey there, Ryu," Rukia waved to the girl behind Tori, "A little talk took you the whole day?" She gestured at the rising sun.

"Hey! It was a very important talk!" Ryu protested, "Now tell me what you guys were up to and I'll tell you my story"

-.-Meanwhile-.-

"They are having a holiday." A chilling laugh. "The fools."

A cackling fit answered. "They won't know what hit them!"

"Please! Do let me go as well! I want revenge on that stupid white-haired brat!"

"Do come down. You are close to being annoying."

The voice before that turned a bit sullen. "Yes, of course."

"Why don't you let her go? She's more than a match against him anyway."

"Hm. Why not, indeed. You may go as well."

"Thank you. I am deeply honored."

"All of you. Do not fail me."

"Of course, Aizen-taichou."

-.-end-

"I think that's a pretty good idea." Ryu mused, munching on a peach bun, "With what happened with Aizen and all. Soul Society needs a break to heal."

"Yeah," Tori signed, remembering what happened, "But that still doesn't explain this!" Her eyes glared at the numerous bags she's carrying.

"I've been wondering about it too." Rukia agreed, balancing a stack of wrapped parcels. She eyed the various things that Ryu's also holding. "What on earth do you need all this food for?"

"Well, If you haven't noticed," Ryu smirked, "You're not the only one with a man problem."

"A man…" Tori and Rukia blinked. The former blushed and pretended to be deeply interested with a bit of dirt on the daikon. The latter shouted, "Nii-sama is not her man!"

Ryu waved her hand to tell Rukia to lower her voice. "You wanna wake the whole neighborhood? Anyway, to your indignation, yes, he is. You would have toi be blind to not notice that, so drop the 'possessive sister' attitude."

Still indignant, Rukia kept muttering under her breath for several minutes before she could let the matter drop. After walking for several minutes in that awkward silence, Tori managed to say, "A-anyway, who's the person you're referring to?"

"You really don't know?"

She shook her head.

"And you are commenting on how I'm cold and heartless?" the incredulity of this situation crept into her voice.

"Just get to the point already." Tori glared half-heartily, getting curious.

"I'll give you one guess," Ryu signed, looking at the rising sun, "And if you don't get it, then you are the biggest idiot in Soul Society."

"Tsuki?" Her eyes widen in confusion as she saw the confirming nod, "How's that possible? Utikate's getting better, isn't he?"

"And who do you think is the cause of that?"

"No way," Rukia said, shock of realization came to her, "You mean that all these books I've been giving her are for…?"

"Yep," She rapped the book that's still on Rukia's back, "These are for research for a way to heal him of his weakness in body. Since the remedies that Soul Society has isn't that effective, she went to the human world to look. She's trying to mix the two together, hopefully getting a better result. I daresay she hasn't slept a lot for the past several days."

"I see…" Tori muttered as they walk near the house that Tsuki lived in. "And I was hoping that Tsuki could do something about the snowless state we are in."

To their surprise, they are not the only ones who were up this morning.

"Oh!" Tsuki, who's not looking so tired and sleepy as the threesome are, looked up from her rest after the morning run, "Ohaiyo. What are you three doing so early up in the morning?"

"Nothing!" Ryu said quickly, "In fact,-"

Just then a hell butterfly flew to Tsuki and gave her a message. She frowned as she read the message. "Tori. This is your doing." She stated.

"Yeah," Tori grinned, "Guilty as charged."

"And I bet you want me to whip up some snow right?"

"Uh-huh."

She signed. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Love you, Tsuki!" Tori bounded toward her and tackled the short girl. "Now please give us some snow!"

"You owe me. A lot. Got it?" Tsuki attempted to glare and smile at the same time, but it ended more as a happy face instead.

"Of course."

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T: YAY! Snow!

R: YAY! SNOW!

LC: COULD YOU TWO BE QUIET!!?! PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP HERE!

T+R: 'whisper' sorry!

T: 'whisper' please review! 


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